Origin
Trapped within an egg-shaped tomb for generations by her brother, Leviathan, the goddess Morte Mamme sought a means to escape her imprisonment by recruiting seven individuals to act as her Harrowers, blessed warriors to combat Leviathan and his demonic minions, the Cenobites. When all hope seemed lost, salvation arrived in the form of maggots. The goddess encouraged the insects to feast upon her flesh, shed their skin, and take flight in search of her chosen army.
Several miles above, the tomb’s guardian, Bunny Benedict, is startled from her sleep by an earthquake caused by Morte Mamme. The earthquake causes a crack in the earth, enabling the insects infused with her being to escape the facade over the tomb dubbed “Legs Benedict’s Egg Museum”, and seek out her chosen few. Bunny instinctively senses that she needs to prepare for company, and proceeds to clean the museum. She watches as the goddess’s swarm takes flight and swats at the insects, unaware of their true purpose.
High above a power line in Wichita, Kansas, Marty Sevenbirds forces himself to overcome his fear of heights to accomplish his job. The last of Morte Mamme’s flies is caught in an intricate spider web at the top of the power line, and is devoured by a spider. Once Sevenbirds has reached the top of the power line, he sees that the spider has written “JOPLIN, MO” in it’s web.
In Hell, Leviathan summons his Cenobite The General after his sister beckons her new allies to Joplin. The General rallies the Cenobites to combat their new foes, selecting six of his best soldiers to destroy the humans, and prevent Morte Mamme from being released from her subterranean prison.
Each individual called by Morte Mamme makes their way to the Legs Benedict’s Egg Museum in Joplin, where they are greeted by guide Bunny Benedict. Benedict tells the group that the egg museum was built around a huge egg-shaped monument, and has been preserved and protected by her family for generations as part of a pact they made with the Indians. As Bunny gives her tour of the Egg Museum, another earthquake cracks open the floor, revealing a stairwell that descends into darkness. The kitten Zinc bolts into the darkness, much to the dismay of Winston. Curious, the group takes a pair of lanterns, and follow the stairwell. Bunny, injured in the earthquake, remains topside. Soon, the others discover a granite rock covering a chamber doorway, and they use their collective strength to move the rock blocking the entrance.
The group discovers the bodies of six other people that have been dead for quite some time, in addition to Morte Mamme’s prison. A message on the seal reads: “Sex Liberabit, Si Aenigma Explicata Erit” (Six shall release if the puzzle is solved) They determine that they must stand in front of the seal, and speak the Latin phrases directly in front of them. After doing so, they enter six individual chambers, and the room begins to spin. The goddess Morte Mamme appears before the group, and informs them they have been chosen to serve as her Harrowers, blessed warriors against evil demons known as Cenobites that were created by Leviathan. The goddess tells them that the bodies of the six fallen in the chamber were once her Harrowers, killed when her brother tricked them. She arms each member of the group with a weapon charged with her life-force.
Major Story Arcs
The Harrowing
Morte Mamme then tells the group that they will follow in the footsteps of their predecessors. The goddess warns the Harrowers that by summoning her, Leviathan has sent six Cenobites to stop the group. She tells the team that she has blessed them each with special abilities, and as the Harrowers return to the surface, Winston is overcome by a strange vision that troubles him. He realizes that he is actually seeing through the eyes of the kitten, Zinc. He sees the kitten snatched by Merkova, a hideous Cenobite with a horse’s skull sutured to her face, along with the remaining demons sent to stop the team. Bunny hangs from the ceiling by hook chains. Gage switches places with Zinc, appearing before the Cenobites, while the kitten is teleported to the stairwell leading to the goddess’s prison. Winston responds to Merkova’s threat of turning Zinc’s intestines into a bracelet by chopping her arms off with his battle axe. The other Harrowers join up with their friend back at the museum, and attack the Cenobites with the weapons bestowed upon them by Morte Mamme.
Dublin Morse displays his new gift of invisibility during the battle, and manages to stab a Cenobite cowboy with his dagger. Ron Ringwood leaps into action, and is strung up by the Cenobites with hook chains. Vera saves Ron from being castrated by one of the Cenobites using her boomerang. In retaliation, the Cenobites string Wyshak up with hook chains, and she asks Morte Mamme for help. The goddess turns Vera’s blood and saliva acidic to the Cenobites, and the demons are forced to release the woman when the pain caused by her blood grows too intense. Vera spits on one of the Cenobites, and dissolves the monster. Marty Sevenbirds, a pacifist by nature, is forced to come to Ron Ringwood’s aid when Merkova bears down on the young man. Sevenbirds stabs Merkova through the thigh with his long sword, forcing the Cenobite to retreat. Marty frees Ron from the hook chains, and Ringwood displays his new accelerated regeneration power, his wounds healing almost instantaneously.
Elsewhere, the twins Lavinia and Lucinda hide, too frightened to join the fray. The goddess creates a guide, Ovid, to assist the young women. Appearing as a cherubic infant with insect-like wings and pointed ears, Ovid is capable of speech, and is extremely flatulent. He explains that Cenobites find it so human, that it disorients the demons. Ovid encourages the Claire twins by telling them that they are not as weak as they feel, and Morte Mamme blesses the twins with mirror images of themselves, numerous additional reflections that make it impossible for the demons to determine who the real Claire siblings are. The twins use this new ability to confuse the Cenobites while they tie the demons up with their lasso, as Ovid breaks wind above the monsters. Now ensnared, the goddess bestows lightning generation and manipulation to Marty Sevenbirds. He hurls lightning at the Cenobites, further incapacitating them, and the Harrowers use their weapons to chop the demons into pieces. Merkova, however, manages to escape, and drags Bunny back to Hell with her.
Morte Mamme informs the group that Leviathan’s commander, The General, would suffer unimaginably for the failure of his soldiers. The goddess then tells the group that they need to enter Hell, in order to rescue Bunny Benedict. She explains that Bunny has been a faithful guardian over her tomb, and that she cannot be forsaken. As the Harrowers prepare to enter Hell, Leviathan gives The General one final opportunity to prove himself. The General creates a horrific monster from the body parts of his fallen Cenobites, Leviathan names it The Furiae, and The General sends it after The Harrowers. The group valiantly combats the monster, while Ron Ringwood searches Hell for Bunny Benedict on his motorcycle. Marty courageously sacrifices himself by electrifying himself and tackling the Furaie, sending them both falling into the deepest pit of Hell.
Powers & Abilities
Marty has been blessed by the goddess Morte Mamme with the powers of electrical generation and expulsion, allowing him to discharge electricity from his body that stops Cenobites in their tracks. He possesses a long sword that was forged by the goddess Morte Mamme that has the ability to slay Cenobites.
Marty shares strong telepathic and empathic connections to the Goddess Morte Mamme, and his fellow Harrowers. He can also psychically sense Cenobites in his immediate vicinity.